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The lack of familiarity with timber-frame house construction; more specifically house-builders worrying about the need for structural design-work; has held back the UK & Irish Republic's house-building industries for decades; leaving them well behind the house-building standards being achieved in other advanced countries.

• Surprisingly; the problem doesn't lie in the actual work required to build timber-frame houses; hundreds of thousands of timber-frame houses are built around the world every year by people who have no more idea of the technicalities than the typical UK or Irish Republic builder.  Our problem has been that timber-frame houses require the structure to actually be 'designed and approved' under the Building Regulations / Warranty (Scotland) and the 'only' available source of that technical information has seemed to be embedded within the various commercial timber-frame 'kit' house manufacturers.  Understandably; most builders shied away from that option because of the very high cost attached and the restrictions it placed upon achieving variety and flexibility in house designs.

Convert existing approved plans to timber-frame construction!

Not all clients come to us with an idea and a plot of land; many come to us with full planning permission already in place, sometimes they have Building Regulations or Warranty approval too ~ for traditional construction!  We can convert virtually any existing house design to timber-frame construction.  For people who already have full planning permission; the Building Regulations application simply proceeds as normal for timber-frame construction; whilst for people with a Building Regulations or Warranty approval; we can supply the timber-frame design for a straightforward substitution with the traditional construction previously approved ~ it doesn't even require a fresh application nor the payment of any further application fees!

With nearly 40 years experience of designing and building 'bespoke' timber-frame structures for individually designed houses and bungalows; we are specialists not only in 'bespoke' residential timber-frame design but also in high-efficiency erection techniques that we have developed over the years in order to maximise the advantages of using timber-frame construction whilst minimising the time and effort involved.

• Our ProFrame^® 'bespoke' timber-frame design and erection methods takes care of all the technical side; so our clients are left with just the quick and simple construction that allows even inexperienced builders to build the highest quality houses with performance to match anything that 'factory-production' can claim to achieve ~ all at a fraction of the 'normal' cost!

• And if the prospect of getting all the structural materials correctly ordered and delivered seems too daunting ~ we even offer a service to handle all that for clients too.  Just click on the highlighted blue 'link' (right) to visit our "Self-Assembly Timber-Frame Kits" page for more information!

Other services are available to handle all the 'on-site' concerns; e.g. simple framing layout drawings and nailing specifications, etc.; so even the most inexperienced people to quickly and easily 'learn' how to fabricate and build houses using timber-frame construction.  As 'Hands-ON' professional 'self-builders' ourselves; we are fully aware of what is required ~ we've been there and done it many times!

The obvious requirement on-site; for anybody who isn't familiar enough with timber-frame construction to build straight from Building Regulations drawings; is the provision of large-scale wall-framing layout drawings & nailing details and 'step-by-step' erection instructions.  Visiting our "Framing & Erection" page will give you more specific information; simply click on the highlighted blue 'link' (above).

One thing that hasn't changed in the decades since we designed our first 'bespoke' timber-frame house is the propensity for timber-frame houses to be heavily 'over-designed'; i.e. to use an excessive amount of totally unnecessary timber; whether here or overseas!

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It never ceases to amaze us just how much timber gets built into the typical timber-frame house that simply isn't needed!  It also has a detrimental effect upon thermal performance too ~ increasing the potential amount of 'thermal bridging' built into proprietary 'kit' houses.

• Everything that we do using our ProFrame^® 'bespoke' timber-frame design software proves just how inefficient the industry is!

The 'root' of the problem is that the industry has become totally dependent upon standard 'industrial' timber-frame design programmes which try to cover every eventuality irrespective of the actual needs and location of the house.  There seems to be a cosy presumption that; as long as customers carry on paying the 'inflated costs'; there's no need to actually design any individual house.  That attitude is part of the reason why timber-frame construction has a totally unjustified reputation as being expensive; despite being incredibly cheap when it is done properly.  Small wonder then that commercial 'kit' based timber-frame houses can end up more than doubling the 'build' cost by the time the house is erected and weather-tight on-site!

FACT: At 'trade prices' ~ timber-frame is relatively cheap; paying inflated 'retail prices' for timber-frame 'kits' & 'SIPS' makes it very expensive!

Our Guiding Philosophy ~

To appreciate what our clients want and to provide an unique response that will create great 'added value' for them.

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